Obama: Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden would both be 'outstanding presidents'

12/5/13 7:29 PM EST

President Obama wouldn’t even dare discuss the qualities that would differentiate Vice President Joe Biden from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were they both to run for president in 2016, but does think they’d both be “outstanding” at the job.

“Not a chance I’m goin’ there,” he told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews when asked to “compare and contrast” the two in an interview conducted Thursday afternoon, before Nelson Mandela’s death was announced.

“Both Hillary and Joe would make outstanding presidents and possess the qualities that are needed to be outstanding presidents,” Obama said.

“I think Joe Biden will go down in history as one of the best vice presidents ever. And he has been with me, at my side, in every tough decision that I've made from going after Bin Laden to dealing with the health care issues to, you name it, he's been there.”

Clinton, meanwhile, “will go down in history as one of the finest secretaries of state we've ever had,” the president said. She “helped to transition us away from a deep hole that we were in when I first came into office around the world. And to rebuild confidence and trust in the United States.”